PC World Test Award 2014

1. No. 47 • friday 12. December 201422 • Computerworld PC World • CRM
CRMkeepsthecompanysales
Case processing which is less dependent on the person in charge
and a simple overview of customer contact are something every-
oneneeds.Furthermore,salesstaffinparticularcanbenefitfrom
a good customer contact system.
n ThisisthefifthconsecutivetestofCRMsystems
inPCWorld.Thisyearwehaveonecompletelynew
systemandonethathastemporarilydroppedout.
Wehavebeenintouchwithallthesuppliersand
askedthemtopresentimportantfunctionsandnew
features,andhavealsohadmeetingsortelephone
meetingswherepossible.
n Wehavetestedbothadesktopmachinewitha
largedisplay,Windows7andOffice2007,andasmall
MicrosoftSurfaceProwithWindows8.1andOffice
2013.AswellasInternetExplorer11wehavealsoused
Firefox33andChrome39.
n Ourinternetconnectionisa75/75Mbit/sservice
fromAltibox,sowehaveaverygoodconnection.The
internalnetworkisacabledGigabyteservicewhile
theSurfaceProusesa802.11nwirelessnetwork.We
alsohaveaseparateExchangeserverwhichwealso
usedforthetest.
n Atthesametimewehavealsobenefitedfrom
previousyears’testingandcanfollowupbynoting
thatwhatwas“rightaroundthecorner”lasttime
hasnowbecomereality.
ERIK ANDERSEN
In an age in which digital aids have practically
eliminated both the personal assistant and the se-
cretary, you need to keep things in order yourself.
If an employee becomes sick or has some other
long-term absence this can create a critical situa-
tion for the company. CRM stands for Customer
Relationship Management.
There are a huge number of CRM systems
on the market with a varying degree of functio-
nality. Some are provided as a part of accounts
software and others are so comprehensive that it
can take months to adapt them to the company's
needs. In our test we focus on the potential for
customization but also expect the system to have
good basis functionality right out of the box.
All the participants in this year's test store data
in the cloud; they are therefore far cheaper and
easier to begin working with than the traditional
solutions that you installed on your own server.
Take care of your customers
Customer service in a CRM system has a cycle.
Good CRM systems help you to acquire custo-
mers, follow up customers and keep customers.
A salesperson will use a CRM system to create
campaigns, handle mailings and contact potential
customers by telephone. In this process which
leads from a potential lead, via a requirement
analysis, a quote and to an order, the sales mana-
ger will be able to have a complete overview of
potential sales and how far they have come. Ba-
sed on probability it is easy to budget for future
income. If there are enough sales and sales staff
are fully employed, the future can be quite precise
and clear.
Every single customer contact is registered for
the right customer in the CRM system. An email
will be moved from the email system and over
into the CRM system where other employees can
also read them. This sharply reduces the need for
access to personal emails. In Norway and elsew-
here in Europe there are strict rules for access to
personal emails, personal files areas and other
local storage media. You can gain access, but
the bureaucracy and documentation required for
such access make it impractical to carry this out
too often. If documents and emails are correctly
archived in the CRM system everything is much
easier. However this does require all employees to
use the system in a disciplined and active manner.
Case follow-up
Even after a sale has been made it is important to
follow up the customer. There may be a complaint
or need for user support. This makes it important
to have a module that is case oriented rather than
customer oriented. An incoming inquiry is then
created as a case and linked to the customer. An
employee is then allocated to resolve the problem.
The case can be moved between multiple persons
and be escalated to a higher level. By building
up a correct hierarchy of case types and status
codes, you can automatically escalate cases that
have been dormant too long and are in danger of
breaching the time clauses in an agreement. An
example is an SLA (Service Level Agreement)
which states that an Internet connection shall be
repaired within eight working hours. Such a mo-
dule can be expanded to become a complete case
processing system for the business and a good
CRM system is an important part of any case
processing tool.
The big picture
For a salesperson that is to renew an agreement
or sell new products to an existing customer,
the CRM system is an important reference as to
whether the customer is satisfied. If there are any
unresolved inquiries from the customer, the sales-
person can push to have the problem solved. At
the same time it is also useful to see whether the
customer has paid previous invoices and if ap-
propriate raise this with the customer. Although
everyone wants to make a sale, it is a good idea to
be sure that the customer is going to pay. In order
to have access to accounts receivable the CRM
system must be integrated with the accounting
system. Some of these type of integrations are
free, others cost money and in a few cases you
will have to have these custom-made. It is vital to
check this when choosing a CRM system.
The same applies to the quote management
modules. Here you can choose between using the
product database in the CRM system and integra-
ting this with the invoicing module in the ERP
system. A quote picks products from the database
and the order is then transferred to the invoicing
system. It is thus vital that the two product da-
tabases are identical; not to mention preventing
sales staff wasting time selling products that can-
not be supplied. Both XSOffice and webOfficeOne
have invoicing modules built into the system, and
24SevenOffice is also a complete accounting pro-
gram.
Help with analysis
The best CRM systems also have analysis mo-
dules. The most common feature is to be able to
analyze how sales staff work with customers.
For example an analysis can be carried out of the
best sale staff and used to train the others. The
same systems can then also tailor a campaign or
a sales process based on the analysis. By tailo-
ring a sales process the CRM system ensures
that all sales staff follow the right steps during
the process. Some analysis modules take this one
stage further, such as for example Microsoft's
Social Listener. This monitors social websites
such as Facebook and Twitter and captures what
people thing about the company or a particular
product. This can be categorized according to the
adjective's positive or negative impression. We
are not sure whether it identifies irony, but it is
clear that trends can be found.
Document templates are a very important part
of a CRM system. They should be tailored for
each situation and follow the company's graphic
profile. A CRM system uses templates to generate
documents where contact information and quote
information is populated by replacing codes in
the document template. Most letter templates are
Word documents but it is also possible to popu-
late fields using Excel and Powerpoint. However,
IMPROVED FLOW:
A well-adapted CRT solu-
tion will ensure an impro-
ved flow and more secure
customer service for the
company.
FOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO
Offprint from PC World/Computerworld no. 47, 2014
Test:SixCRMsolutionsintwelvevarieties
How the test was carried out

2. No. 47 • friday 12. December 2014 Computerworld • 23PC World • CRM
apparatusrunningsmoothly
third-party add-ons with all kinds of additional
functions. Microsoft already has an app store for
CRM, and SuperOffice has one in the pipeline.
Mobile solutions are central these days and
we place a lot of emphasis on how accessible in-
formation is to you when on the move. We thus
expect that the most important CRM functions
are accessible while you are on the move, from
laptops, tablets and smart telephones. Since all
participants are hosted solutions a laptop will
work fine as soon as you are online. Many tablets
can also run the web-based solutions - or separate
apps are available. Smart telephones have their
own apps or a specially adapted web solution for
small screens.
It is therefore much cheaper and easier to get
started with these than the traditional solutions.
these days HTML templates are the most com-
mon for emails. If you do not want to send Word
documents to customers, it is also possible to
convert a Word template into a PDF document in
some solutions.
The essential interaction
Integration with Office or a competing product is
important for CRM. Outlook in particular is vital
when connecting emails with contact cards. Many
of the solutions have built-in proprietary email
clients so that you do not need to use Outlook
for email at all. Some systems also allow you to
edit documents and templates without Word, and
others have begun to use the web-based apps in
Office 365. Big changes can be expected here in
2015.
When introducing a CRM system, it's not just
the price of the system that needs to be consi-
dered. In order to benefit from the best possible
utilization of the system, good preparation, trai-
ning and a methodical approach to use are im-
portant. You have to examine the possibilities of-
fered and adapt them to achieve the best possible
interaction with the business. During this process
you will also get to know how your own business
works and how you create a system out of anar-
chy and chaos.
Seek help at the start
The suppliers strongly recommend that you get
help from consultants when introducing large-
scale solutions. As well as the installation you
can get help to customize fields and limits, add
fields and tables, import data and link these to
the ERP system. You can get assistance with
scripting a sales process, creating campaigns and
making templates. The biggest systems also have
s
Offprint from PC World/Computerworld no. 47, 2014

3. No. 47 • friday 12. December 201424 • Computerworld PC World • CRM
QUOTE: The new quote
management module in
SuperOffice sends out qu-
otes as letters or emails.
SuperOffice 7.5 Online
For: Comprehensive user in-
terface; ever more value for
money.
Against: No special functions for social CRM
SuperOffice is Norway's leading supplier of CRM
systems and for many SuperOffice is synony-
mous with CRM. In recent years it is the Online
edition that has been responsible for growth and
has made SuperOffice accessible to companies of
all sizes. The Online edition is now very close to
the server edition with regard to support for ex-
pansions and add-ons. Now only add-ons special-
ly created for the Windows client for SuperOffice
and not the web client are the only opportunity
for Online users. In principle the two clients are
practically identical, and SuperOffice has created
a web client which is so similar to the Windows
client that it is difficult to understand why the
Windows client still exists. Yet SuperOffice can
reassure users of the Windows client that it will
continue to live for a few more years, but in the
longer term the web client will reign supreme.
SuperOffice Online is available in two editions.
The standard version contains the basic CRM,
sales and marketing It organizes your contacts,
your tasks, your email and your calendar.
The contacts database in SuperOffice is logical
and clear. You create a contact which in practice
is a company, and create contact persons for this.
In addition you can create relationships between
everything and everyone so that you can register
networks, acquaintances and roles for multiple
companies. You can also view activities, sales and
cases which are linked to the company.
The diary gives you your calendar as day,
week or month. Here you also have an overview
where you can show your calendar together with
one or more selected colleagues. You can create
groups of colleagues which you can switch bet-
ween. At the same time you can keep track of
activities and sales under the calendars.
The sales module lets you carry out an ac-
tivity for a customer and follow it through the
sales process until it is finally won or lost. The
sales guide leads you through the sales process
according to a predetermined pattern which you
can create yourself. This is a visually scripted
sales process that ensures that you complete all
the right steps in the sales process. You can also
connect interested parties and follow all activities
related to the sale. There is also a link to the new
quote management module.
The project module is a connecting link bet-
ween multiple participants, activities and sales.
It does not offer full project management like
24SevenOffice, but the project guide that is the
equivalent of the sales guide for individual sales
allows you to manage the workflow in the project
according to a schedule. This is the equivalent of
project templates for 24SevenOffice.
SuperOffice has a powerful selection function.
You can create a selection of everything, combine
two selections and bring up the union, intersec-
tion or those which are in one but not in the other.
This is useful if you have already contacted the
one selection. You can choose between static and
dynamic selections. Static selections are made at
a specific time and dynamic are saved searches
which are updated every time they are used.
The SuperOffice inbox can either be the built-
in IMAP client if you do not use Outlook, or you
can install MailLink and use Outlook. With this
connection you can use all email accounts found
in Outlook. You get a separate toolbar in Outlook
with a button that adds an email to SuperOffice
and links it to the right customer, case or project.
If you install WebTools, you will see a small
SuperOffice owl among the status icons in Win-
dows, and as well as the fact that you are notified
about tasks without being in SuperOffice you can
easily log on. WebTools also takes care of docu-
ments in SuperOffice and makes sure that they
are sent back when you have carried out any edi-
ting in one of the Office programs such as Word
or Excel. However we miss the Ribbon add-on
from the local version as this offered even more
functions. SuperOffice has also included integra-
tion with the most basic versions of Office 365. It
is now possible to use Office 365 as a document
database in SuperOffice and edit using the Micro-
CUSTOMER HELP:
The case processing
module in SuperOffice
keeps track of customer
inquiries.
Offprint from PC World/Computerworld no. 47, 2014

4. No. 47 • friday 12. December 2014 Computerworld • 25PC World • CRM
n WehavetestessixpowerfulCRMsystemsintwelve
varieties.Allarebestforsomeusers,andtheydiffer
inbothfunctionalityandspecialty.Threeareturn-
keysystemsandthreeofthesystemscanbefreely
customizeduntiltheyareunrecognizablefromthe
originalversions.
n LundalogikLIMEProisacomprehensivesolution
thatcanbetailoredtothecompany’sneeds-and
theconsultantsatLundalogikarereadytodothis
foryou.ThefundamentalCRMfunctionsaregood
andeasytofollow,buttheadvancedfunctionsare
moreinaccessiblethantheyoughttobe.Lundalogik’s
websolutionisalsocurrentlysomewhatlimitedand
needstobetranslatedtoNorwegian.
n MicrosoftCRMhasbyfarthebestsolutioninthe
testforlargeAmericancorporations.Nobodybeats
Microsoftonfunctionality,adaptabilityandwealth
offeatures.Theproblemisthatthejourneythereis
alongonefromloggingonforthefirsttime.Froma
NorwegianperspectiveitisverybigandveryAmeri-
can.Microsoftwasthewinnerlasttime,buttheprice
hasgoneupandtheprogramisevenmoreweighed
downbyfunctionsthanpreviously.Yetdevelopments
takeplacerapidlyandexcitingthingsareontheway
-andwiththerightinputfromconsultantsitcanalso
beaverygoodsysteminNorway.
n WeareleftwithSuperOfficewhichisbackontop.
WorkinginSuperOffice-withitshighlypolisheduser
interfaceandclearfunctions-isauniquefeeling.
WitheMarketing,Serviceandthenewquotemana-
gementmoduleincludedinOnlineProfessional,we
havenodoubtsthistimearound.SuperOfficeOnline
isthebestinthetest.
Our choice
Program Lundalogik LIME Pro Lundalogik LIME Pro Microsoft CRM Microsoft CRM
og Office 365
SuperOffice Super-
Office
Utgave Hostedminimum Hostedmaksimum 2014OnlineProfessional 2014OnlineProfessional
ogE3
OnlineStandard OnlineProfesjonell
Version 10.11.267.0 10.11.267.0 6.1.1.1630 6.1.1.1630 7.5.5387 7.5.5387
Startingpriceforthesolution 0 0 0 0 0 0
Maintenance1userperyear 0 0 0 0 0 0
Startingcostperuser 1000 1000 0 0 0 0
Maintenanceperuserperyear 5400 7800 4860 6638 3540 4740
–Compulsorymaintenance Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
–includingusersupportbyemail Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
–includingusersupportbytelephone Yes Yes No No No No
Supplier Lundalogikas Lundalogikas MicrosoftNorgeAS MicrosoftNorgeAS SuperOfficeAS SuperOfficeAS
Telephone 21611710 21611710 23500500 23500500 23354000 23354000
Productwebsite www.lundalogik.no www.lundalogik.no www.microsoft.com/nb-no/
dynamics/crm.aspx
www.microsoft.com/nb-no/
dynamics/crm.aspx
www.superoffice.no www.superoffice.no
Companyemail post@lundalogik.no post@lundalogik.no info@superoffice.no info@superoffice.no
Pricefor5usersfor3years(AllpricesexclVAT) 81.000 117.000 72.900 99.576 53.100 71.100
Pricefor10usersfor3years 162.000 234.000 145.800 199.152 106.200 142.200
Pricefor20usersfor3years 324.000 468.000 291.600 398.304 212.400 284.400
Score Weight
Gettingstarted 6 5,0 5,0 4,0 4,0 5,5 5,5
User-friendliness 10 4,0 4,0 4,0 4,0 6,0 6,0
Documentdatabase 5 4,5 4,5 3,0 6,0 5,5 5,5
Officeintegration 5 5,0 5,0 5,5 6,0 5,5 5,5
Prospect/quote 8 5,0 5,0 5,0 5,0 3,0 6,0
Salesoverview 8 5,5 5,5 5,0 5,0 6,0 6,0
Inquiries 8 3,0 5,0 5,0 5,0 3,0 6,0
Accessibility 7 4,5 4,5 6,0 6,0 5,5 5,5
Workflow 7 5,0 5,0 6,0 6,0 6,0 6,0
Collaboration/socialCRM 7 3,0 3,0 6,0 6,0 3,0 3,0
Analysis 7 5,5 5,5 6,0 6,0 3,0 5,0
Customization 6 4,5 5,0 6,0 6,0 5,0 5,0
Expansionopportunities 6 4,0 5,0 6,0 6,0 5,0 5,0
Price 10 3,4 1,0 4,0 2,2 5,3 4,1
Finalscore 100 4,4 4,4 5,1 5,1 4,8 5,3
Theyrecommendengaging
consultancyservicesequiva-
lenttothefirstyear'srunning
costsinordertogetstarted.
CanusecheaperBasiclice-
nsesfornon-salesstaffand
themoreexpensiveEnter-
priseforthemarket.
AlsohasOffice365which
addsemail,Officeprograms
andabetterdocument
database.
HaritilleggOffice365
somtilførere-post,Office-
programmerogbedredo-
kumentregister.
Astart-uppackcosting
NOK4990orNOK14900is
recommendedtogetupand
running
Astart-uppackcosting
NOK4990orNOK14900
isrecommendedtogetup
andrunning
soft web apps. At present this does not yet work
with the full version of Office 365 which must
still be used with WebTools and SuperOffice's
own document database. We expect improved in-
tegration in the future.
If you choose Online Professional instead, you
also receive eMarketing, Service and the new qu-
ote management module. The eMarketing module
allows you to send newsletters via email to regis-
tered contact persons. You can mail merge in the
usual way and SuperOffice automatically handles
unsubscribe requests from the unsubscribe link
you include.
The service module is used for case processing
and to handle incoming inquiries. Here activities
are linked to a case instead of a contact and you
have a complete overview of whether or not is-
sues have been resolved. With the help of a hie-
rarchal status database you will be able to handle
and prioritize the most important customers and
ensure that you resolve cases by the deadlines
agreed with the customer (SLA). The system also
has a knowledge database (FAQ) where complete
solutions to frequent problems are found. You
build up the knowledge database by using solu-
tions to customer inquiries in anonymized form.
The knowledge database can also be published on
a website as an IFRAME. This is useful for sales
staff to ensure that a specific customer has no
outstanding issues before trying to make a new
sale. The sales staff can then push to have the
case resolved before the sales drive.
The new quote management module is also a
useful function. Here you can work with a quote
in advance of a sales process. SuperOffice has a
separate product database where you can enter
campaign products or products included in a
quote. You can also integrate with the product
database in your ERP system. You then pick pro-
ducts from the product database and send a quote
to the customer. Depending on the type of quote
you can also add extra alternative quotes. For
example this could be a quote for a locally instal-
led version of SuperOffice or the Online version.
The former will then be the main quote and be
used in the sales overview. If the latter becomes
more probable then you simply change which is
the main quote. Finally the quote can be changed
into an order and sent to the invoicing system
with which SuperOffice is integrated.
PocketCRM is SuperOffice's client for smart-
phones and tablets. This is quite an advanced cli-
ent with a lot of functionality and is available for
both Android and IOS. The web client can also be
used on a tablet although your fingers will be a
bit too big for some tasks. With a pen everything
works better. The last time we tested SuperOffice
a client for Windows Phone was «right around
the corner» and it still is. However they are
fairly sure that this will be available in the first
quarter of 2015.
Online Professional also gives you the SAINT
module with its analysis functions. Many of the
analysis functions are accessible from Pocket-
CRM and you thus need Online Professional to be
able to use PocketCRM.
We really like the user interface in SuperOf-
fice. It is simple, clean and clear, and is very
advanced without seeming overloaded with func-
tions. Furthermore, response time is blazingly
fast and SuperOffice is simply much faster than
all the others. As well as an efficiently coded user
interface, localization at Visma in Oslo is no dis-
advantage for Norwegian users. The price has not
changed and you get much more for your money
in Online Professional. Next year sees the arrival
of SuperOffice 8, and we are keen to see what this
will bring.
Offprint from PC World/Computerworld no. 47, 2014